Green-and-gold TanagerTangara schrankii

Breeding

There is little information on the breeding biology of Green-and-gold Tanager. Four nests are reported from southeastern Peru, from late July to October (Marra 1990, Van Houtan and Alvarez-Loayza 2006). These nests were open cups and located in the forest understory, 1-3 m above the ground. Three nests were composed of dried leaves, rootlets and lichens (Marra 1990), and another of rootlets (Van Houtan and Alvarez-Loayza 2006). In this sense, the nest of Green-and-gold Tanager differs of other Tangara species, due to the absence of moss (Marra 1990). Reported nest dimensions are 4.8-10.2 cm x 7.0-12.2 cm (outer width x outer depth) and 6.0 x 4.3-6.6 cm (cup width x cup depth) (Marra 1990, Van Houtan and Alvarez-Loayza 2006). The clutch is two eggs, with dimensions of 23 x 15 mm, and are pale reddish brown with dark red marks. A nestling in one nest disappeared, in an apparent act of predation; a female relaid a fresh clutch in the same nest 14 days later ( Van Houtan and Alvarez-Loayza 2006). The incubation period for this second nesting attempt was 15-17 days, but time to fledging for these nestlings was not documented (Van Houtan and Alvarez-Loayza 2006). A male was not observed to provision these nestlings or contribute to incubation. Food items fed the the nestlings were a mix fruits and arthropods; the main items were Cecropia tessmanii, Palicourea officinalis, and Orchidaceae as well as spiders, Lepidoptera, and Hemiptera (Van Houtan and Alvarez-Loayza 2006).